Ground Zero: Week one.

On this world there exists no such impossible tasks, they fear only those with perseverence (Chinese proverb).

I thought this proverb summed up my first week of training with Leeds Taekwondo and Premier Martial Arts Centre.

I'm in it for the long run, training for six months in Mixed Martial Arts - popularly known as Ultimate Fighting.

But (and this is where you might start questioning my sanity) I have never trained in martial arts before.

So this week was equivalent to jumping from the highest diving board at the swimming pool, and not really being certain how deep the water is.

My motivation? Well, apart from seeing if I can do it, i'm also keen to get in shape for my sister's wedding in June.

So, over the next few months you can follow my journey from chump to champ. 

It's often the case that you have to reach rock bottom before you actually improve.

Fortunately, I think I may have hit the bottom of the diving pool this week. 

It was shallower and less forgiving than I thought it might be.

We started off with some drills that seemed ok, if a bit exhausting for my flabby, post-Christmas body.

But it was when trainer Ricky Lam started us on kickboxing pad work that I began to really suffer.

Kicking and punching combinations of up to 12 hits are hard to remember when your brain is starved of oxygen.

I had to stop at one point as stars began to dance about in my eyes. I realised that this was going to be a lot harder than I first thought.

After a particularly gruelling (well, at least from my perspective) session with the pads it was time to try out some grappling.

Ricky has only recently travelled to America to find out all about Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).

Ultimate Fighting has become massively popular in America, overshadowing boxing on 15 years after it first came to prominence.

I've seen a few fights on TV and new that it was pretty brutal, but couldn't really understand why they spent so much time rolling around on the floor wrestling.

After Tuesday night it all makes sense; grappling is pretty exhausting stuff and as Ricky explained, highly strategic.

My body let me down again as we learnt how to floor an opponent. 

Cramp consumed my left leg and I was left reeling on the floor feeling just a little pathetic.

But I was soon back into the fray and as soon as it had begun, my first MMA session was at an end.

The next day muscles I never knew existed ached in unison. As the next session approached my soreness began to recede and I was raring to go.

Needless to say the second session was a lot easier, and I began to actually enjoy what we doing instead of enduring it.

Ricky taught us several really useful self-defence techniques that made the lesson seem all the more relevant to everyday life.

I felt like I was finally getting somewhere. But i've got a long way to go...